3021 Wiltshire Presidential Election

The 2nd Annual Wiltshirian Presidential Election will be held on 5 February 3021 to elect the second President of Wiltshire, to serve the term of 14 February 3021 until 13 February 3022. Incumbent President Gaius Selan announced on 15 November 3020 that he would not seek a second term in office as President, leaving open the possibility of a contested election. Many considered the election to be a closed case for President Selan. This election is expected to have a turnout of over one-million voters.

President Selan's trademark policy during his time in office has been the growth of the Wiltshirian military, notably the Wiltshire Navy and the development of the Cassin Young-class aircraft carrier. Selan would likely seek a second term if he felt this military expansion was at risk, given that he has said he would only appoint a Prime Minister who supported such actions.

Incumbent President Gaius Selan announced in November 3020 that he would not seek re-election.

President Selan has appointed three Prime Ministers (Audrick Hill, Mark Edwin, and Sonya Inyo). In July, Sebastian Bashira became the first candidate in the race. However, following Bashira's election to the Wiltshire National Assembly in October 3020, he has dropped out of the race. In addition, Paul Norment was a candidate briefly, dropping out in November 3020. Two former Prime Ministers (Frank Eddington and Rita Smith (Smith being a candidate in the last presidential election)) have announced their candidates, as well as Kurt Antonov, the popular Mayor of Minevgrad.

Following President Selan's announcement that he would not seek a second term, the Liberal Conservative Party started to consider candidates to be their nominee.

Procedure

The only formal rules for the running of a presidential election comes from the Second Elections Act, 3020 which laid out the following criteria;

"On the first Friday of every February, the citizens shall poll to elect a President of the Republic. The following Sunday shall commence the President-elect's term in office."

"The poll in the election of the President shall be conducted by the Elections Authority and shall franchise electors aged 18 and older not otherwise prohibited from voting by incarceration."

The Elections Authority released the guidelines for the election as follows:

"Candidates for the position of President of the Wiltshire Republic require nomination from three-thousand signatories on a nomination petition in order to access the national ballot in the poll..."

"... much like in the 3020 poll, this will be conducted via a multi-preference ranked choice ballot, with the candidate requiring a majority of votes cast in order to be elected. The Wiltshire National Assembly is then expected to certify the results of the poll within three working days of the election."

Declared candidates

As of 7 November 3020, there have been five people to declared as candidates.

Candidate	Office(s) held	Home City	Political Party	Declared
Frank Eddington	Prime Minister of Wiltshire (3016 until 3010) Leader of the Socialist Party (3015 until 3019)	Arches	Socialist (nomination required)	26 July 3020
Rita Smith	Prime Minister of Wiltshire (3019) Leader of the Labour Party (3019) Minister for Education (3020) Foreign Minister (3020 until present)	Juneville	Labour (officially nominated)	14 August 3020
Kurt Antonov	Mayor of Minevgrad (3018 until present)	Minevgrad	Independent	7 November 3020
M Fitzgerald	Member of the Wiltshire National Assembly for Richland (3020 until present)	Washington	Liberal Conservative	30 November
Moon-See Park	Leader of the National Assembly (3020 until present) Member of the Wiltshire National Assembly for Shipley (3018 until 3019; 3020 until present)	Newton	Liberal Conservative	1 December

Suspended candidates

The following candidates announced their runs but have since suspended their campaigns.

Candidate	Office(s) held	Home City	Political Party	Announced	Suspended
Sebastian Bashira	Leader of the Democratic Party (July 3020 until August 3020) Leader of the Liberal Party of Wiltshire (since August 3020) Member of the Wiltshire National Assembly (since October 3020)	Juneville	Democratic (initially) Liberal	14 July 3020	1 November 3020
Paul Norment	Member of the Wiltshire National Assembly (February 3020 until October 3020)	Arches	Socialist	4 August 3020	7 November 3020

Nominations

Party	Nominee	Home City	Officially nominated
Liberal Conservative	TBD
Labour	Rita Smith	Juneville	3 October 3020
KRV	TBD
United Wiltshire	TBD
Christian Alliance	TBD
Stability	TBD
Liberal	TBD